WAITING FOR GODOT

  I hear a lot of talk about the economy slowing and people worrying about the future. And they should be worried. You can't outsource all your good jobs and have a functioning society based on hamburger flippers.

Now do you imagine that politicians in Washington DC, in their heart-of-hearts, know that we are in for a rough ride? Of course they know it. And what are they telling us? Not much.

For instance, how can so-called progressive politicians keep voting to fund the war and then tell us they want to make sure we have social programs in this country? How can we spend over $300 billion for the war and occupation of Iraq and still afford money for education, mass transit, roads and bridges repair, health care, cleaning up the environment and all the rest. It's a flat impossibility. But I hear these "leaders" say we can do it.

The amazing thing is that people still believe this nonsense. I see people, who generally are well read and know what is going on, fall for this line that you can keep funding a war and still have social progress. The reason they fall for the lie is simple. Only one word is necessary to explain this phenomenon. Democrats. There is a breed of people out there who want Democrats back in power so badly that they will suspend all common sense just to see them return to power. Then, these people think, life will return to normal, they can go back to playing tennis again, and leave the worries to a newly elected Congress, controlled by the Democrats. The Dems will then end all the wars, bring the jobs back home, and rebuild our nation to its glorious days of old. It goes something like that anyway.

The problem is that this is an illusion. The Democrats will not end the occupation of Iraq. They will keep our permanent bases there because they are building empire; most of these politicians are working for the corporations these days.

They are not going to bring our jobs back home because these same corporations are maximizing their profits by moving jobs overseas. The only jobs that we are going to see in our communities are the ones in the military industrial complex. And when it comes to those kinds of jobs Dems and Repubs are working together to bring that pork home.

As much as the American voters talks about being fed up with things, with being disillusioned with politics as usual, the fact is that most voters still hang onto a thread of believing the system is going to change. This shell game is fed to the public by the corporate dominated media. I was at a party the other day and someone, right on cue, asks who is going to be the Democratic Party presidential nominee in 2008? The question was really one more sign of this "hanging onto hope" mentality that the right Democrat is going to come into office and save us. Ain't gonna happen!

People want to believe in the Democrats because they can't bear the alternative possibility. If it is true that the Dems aren't gonna save us, then who will? And that is what folks don't want to think about. The middle class dream has folks locked up in a self-imposed prison that keeps them from acting. They don't want to publicly get branded as an activist. It might look bad as one searches for a job in this declining job market. Better to keep our mouths shut and rely on the Democrats to save us. If we just keep believing strongly enough, maybe it will happen.

It is like waiting for Godot. He ain’t coming. Godot does not exist.

Wake up before it is all gone. Look into your children's eyes and repeat after me. Godot does not exist. Godot does not exist.